Whimsy Stamps December Countdown Day 1

Hello!

It's time to start counting down to the December release from Whimsy Stamps. 

Today my card is showcasing the Crazy for Chocolate stamp set and matching dies.

I stamped and heat embossed in white, all 4 of the individual chocolates from this stamp set. After colouring them with my Zig markers I cut them out with the matching dies.

I did some ink smooshing on some watercolour cardstock with a variety of pink dye inks and cut out my panel. Once completely dry I stamped a sentiment from the set in black ink at the bottom of my panel added a couple of strips of glitter tape above and then popped up my 4 chocolates on some foam tape above that.

I mounted my panel onto my card base with some strips of patterned paper behind.

I didn't add any additional embellishments as the glitter tape gave it enough sparkle.

The following sets will be available to buy in the Whimsy Store on the 7th December.

Thanks for dropping by!

Craftin Desert Divas - Guest Spot - You're Faulous

Hello.

I'm here again guesting for Craftin Desert Divas showcasing their newly released 

Tickled Pink Stamp Set.

When I first looked up images of flamingos I found that their shades varied depending on their area and diet, so are almost purple or even blue! So I tried a bit of a different colour for my flamingo today. 

I kept my background rather loose with some ink smooshing with some Distress Oxides in Peacock Feathers, Wilted Violet, Cracked Pistachio and Twisted Citronand decided to add a shaker element above the stamped sentiment for a little interest, fussy cutting my stamped image and popping her up on some foam tape.

I backed the whole thing on some pink lustre cardstock which was a much more purply pink of camera, and finished with a few clear sequins,

I'll have my final card for CCD to share with you tomorrow, thanks so much for dropping by!

Whimsy Stamps July Release Day 3

Hello!

We're on the last day of our new release show case and to round off my cards today I have 2 makes with clear stamp sets to share with you.

The first uses Paper Polly Dolly.

This little cutie comes with several outfits you can dress her up in and for this card I chose the Bee outfit. The set also comes with a set of matching dies (which I don't have so I did have to fussy cut this one), to make life easier for you, and the die set actually allows you to make an additional cat outfit.

I've just realised that I completely forgot to add her little antennae!

I coloured her with my Zig markers and popped her on top of a shaker card that I made with the Honeycomb Pattern Die. The sentiment is also part of the set.

For my second card I made a background using the smooshing method, with Distress Inks and Gold Watercolour paint from Gansai Tambi.

I paired this with some gold lustre cardstock and then stamped and gold heat embossed some flower images from the Little Birdie Told Me stamp set, coloured them with my zig markers, and fussy cut them. I popped them up against my gold frame with some foam tape.

The sentiment stamped on the bottom of the frame is from the Simple Sentiments set and the numbers are made with dies from the Brush Script Number Die Set.

I finished off with a few gold and clear sequins.

Thanks for joining us during the release.

Whimsy Stamps July Release Sneak Peek - Dracula I Compel You

Happy Sunday!

The sun is shining here and my creativity is high, so life is good.

Today I'm here with another sneak peek for the Whimsy Stamps July release and this time I'm showcasing a new clear stamp and matching die set by Deb Davis.

This set is Called Dracula I Compel You, you'll be able to find it and the matching die set here once the release is live.

I don't normally go anywhere near Halloween stuff, but these sets have lots of fun sentiments that are suitable for lots of different occasions and I used this set to make a fun birthday card.

I thought this card would be idea for a teen or would make a fun male card, (we all know I normally run screaming from the male card, because they scare me - ironic then that a 'scary' stamp set should make it easy lol).

I stamped all my images onto Bristol Smooth cardstock and coloured with my Zig markers using black, reds and grays, cut them out with the matching dies and set them aside.

I took another piece of watercolour cardstock and used some Festive Berries and Candied Apple distress inks to make a background using the 'smooshing' techniquie to get the effect of blood splatters and then added some small spalatters of black paint using a paint brush and flicking.  I set this aside to dry while I heat embossed my sentiment in white, onto some black cardstock and cut it out with a banner die.

I cut my background out with a Hand Stitched Nested Rectangles die. I backed this with some black cardstock, stamped another sentiment from the set at the top and adhered it to my card base made from red cardstock, using a little foam tape to give some dimension.

Finally I added all my elements to my base with some foam tape for the main image and added a little sparkle to the bats with some Wink of Stella.

Don't forget the new release is on Wednesday 19th, but I'll have one more sneak peek for you before then.

Thanks for visiting!

Mermazing

Hello!

It's mermaids again from me today...well it is the weather for it in the UK this week!

I went for something much simpler than my previous card this time, starting by making a cardbase (A2) from MFT Limelight card stock. Then I took some Tim Holtz watercolour paper (I like this when there will be a lot of white space as it is a bright white), and did some ink smooshing. I used distress inks in Peacock Feathers and Twisted Citron and set that aside to dry.

I stamped one of the images from MFT's Mermazing stamp set on some Strathmore Bristol Smooth paper and coloured her with my Zig markers (I really need to start noting down colours for these).

 I do the skin with my distress markers in Vintage Photo, as it works better for me than the zig markers for flesh tones.

I added a little wink of stella to her tail for a bit of sparkle, which of course does not show up on the photo, and cut her out with the matching die from the MFT Mermazing Die-namics.

Then I used the stitched rectangle die from MFT Blueprints 20 to trim my ink smooshed background added some splashes of white acrylic paint and adhered it to my card base.

I decided where I was going to position my mermaid and then stamped a sentiment with some Black Onyx Versafine ink before popping her up with some foam tape.

Finally I added a few clear gemstones and sequins to finish.

Items Used:

MFT Cardstock Limelight

Tim Holtz Watercolor Paper

Distress Inks Peacock Feathers & Twisted Citron

Strathmore Bristol Smooth Paper

Versafine Black Onyx

MFT Mermazing Stamp Set

Zig Markers 

Vintage Photo Distress Ink Marker

MFT Mermazing Die-namics

Wink of Stella

White Acrylic Marker

Glue

Foam Tape

Clear gems and sequins.

I hope you like my card today and that it may have released your inner mermaid.

Thanks so much for visiting!

Waving Hello

Hello!

I'm dropping by with a sweet and simple card I made using the Lawn Fawn Stamp Set Mermaid for You

I coloured 2 of the mermaids very simply with my Distress Ink markers, adding a little detail to their tails with the pen nib. I cut them out with the matching dies and set aside.

I took a piece of watercolour paper and a couple of different colours of distress ink and did a background with the smooshing technique, picking up the diluted ink on a piece of acetate and smooshing it onto the watercolour card to make an unstructured and random pattern.

After I had the desired effect, I added a few drops of water and blotted off the excess, and then splattered on some drops of white acrylic paint.

Once fully dry I cut it down with a large rectangle die from Blueprints 20 and then cut a piece of turquoise lustre card 1/8th of an inch bigger all round to mat it.

I made a US A2 top folding card base and adhered my mats to the card, centreing them.

I arranged my mermaids to decide where I wanted them, and stamped a sentiment from the set in black onyx Versafine ink, then adhered the mermaids in place, popping them up with some foam tape.

Finally for a finishing touch I added a few sequins.

Items Used

Lawn Fawn Mermaid For You Stamp Set

Lawn Fawn Mermaid For You Die Set

MFT Blueprints 20
Smooth White Cardstock
Blue Lustre Cardstock
Hot Pressed Watercolour Paper
Versafine Ink, Onyx Black
Distress Inks
White Acrylic Paint
Sequins
Collal Adhesive
Foam Tape
Ranger Multi Medium Matte

Technique Tuesday #11 Ink Smooshing

Hello!

It's Tuesday again and time for another in my series of Technique Tuesdays and this time I'm showcasing a little ink 'smooshing'

I LOVE this technique! It's a great way to create backgrounds, you can go large or small, subtle or bold, depending on your choice of colours etc. and it works equally well for cards with an image or without. You will have seen a small example of this technique in one my shaker cards recently.

I love that it's fun and easy to do and feels so artistically creative and also that every result will be completely unique.

So how do we do it? Well there are a few different techniques and I would strongly suggest searching for ink or watercolour smooshing on YouTube as there are many videos on this. For my card today (and my favoured technique), I used a piece of acetate about 4'' by 3'' and used my mini distress ink pads directly onto it, then spritzed with a little water and then you turn it over and start dabbing it on your watercolour paper. If you want the colour to run and spread even more, you can wet your paper down with a brush first. Once you're happy with the first colour, clean your acetate and go in with another colour and then another. The number of colours is up to you, I used 3 here but you will end up with more shaded on you paper as they will mix and blend a little. If you are not happy with the intensity of a colour just repeat the step.

On the card below I used; Twisted Citron, Peacock Feathers and Blueprint Sketch.

I trimmed the piece a little smaller than my card base and rounded 2 opposing corners with my corner chomper.

Once my paper was dry I added a few splatters of water, left for a minute or two and then blotted with some kitchen paper. When dry again I splattered a little Gansai Tambi watercolour paint in gold, flicking the paint off the end of the brush for some pretty gold spatters.

I dried thoroughly and then stamped my sentiment with black Versamark ink and cut out the word because with the die that comes in the same set as the sentiment (listed below).

I cut it 3 times in white cardstock and once in gold, gluing them all together for dimension and then adding it above my stamped sentiment.

I mounted onto some black cardstock a quarter of an inch bigger and trimmed to match and then stuck the whole thing on my card base with some foam tape.

I finished off with a few sequins.

I used the following:

Smooth white cardstock
Black cardstock
Watercolour paper
Distress Inks
Small Piece of Acetate
Gold watercolour Paint
MFT Because You - stamp and die set
MFT Because You set - UK
Little Things from Lucy - Champagne Sparkly Shaker Selection

I hope you enjoy my technique for today and thank you so much for taking the time to visit.